One evening, after attending the theater, two gentlemen
were walking down the avenue when they observed a rather well
dressed and attractive young lady walking ahead of them. One
of them turned to the other and remarked, "I'd give $50.00 to
spend the night with that woman." Much to their surprise,
the young lady overheard the remark, turned around, and
replied, "I'll take you up on that." She had a neat
appearance and a pleasant voice, so after bidding his
companion good night, the man accompanied the young lady to
her apartment.
The following morning the man presented her with $25.00
as he prepared to leave. She demanded the rest of the money,
stating: "If you don't give me the other $25.00, I'll sue you
for it." He laughed, saying: "I'd like to see you get it on
these grounds."
The next day he was surprised when he received a summons
ordering his presence in court as a defendant in a lawsuit.
He hurried to his lawyer and explained the details of the
case. His lawyer said: "She can't possibly get a judgement
against you on such grounds, but it will be interesting to
see how her case will be presented."
After the usual preliminaries, the lady's lawyer
addressed the court as follows:
"Your honor, my client, this lady, is the owner of a
piece of property, a garden spot, surrounded by a profuse
growth of shrubbery, which property she agreed to rent to the
defendant for a specified length of time for the sum of
$50.00. The defendant took possession of the property, used
it extensively for the purpose for which it was rented, but
upon evacuating the premises, he paid only $25.00, one-half
the amount agreed upon. The rent was not excessive, since it
is restricted property, and we ask judgement be granted
against the defendant to assure payment of the balance."
The defendant's lawyer was impressed and amused by the
way his opponent had presented the case. His defense,
therefore, was somewhat different from the way he originally
planned to present it. "Your honor," he said, "My client
agrees that the lady has a fine piece of property, that he
did rent such property for a time, and a degree of pleasure
was derived from the transaction. However, my client found a
well on the property around which he placed his own stones,
sunk a shaft, and erected a pump, all labor performed
personally by him. We claim these improvements to the
property were sufficient to offset the unpaid amount, and
that the plaintiff was adequately compensated for rental of
said property. We, therefore, ask that judgement not be
granted."
The young lady's lawyer answered thusly: "Your honor, my
client agrees that the defendant did find a well on her
property. However, had the defendant not known that the well
existed, he would never have rented the property. Also, upon
evacuating the premises, the defendant removed the stones,
pulled out the shaft, and took the pump with him. In doing
so, he not only dragged the equipment through the shrubbery,
but left the hole much larger than it was prior to his
occupancy, making the property much less desirable to others.
We, therefore, ask that judgement be granted."
And it was. She won the case ...................